Ty Lawson is still dealing with his heel injury, but did participate in Nuggets practice Tuesday, although he played “OK, nothing much more than OK,” coach George Karl said.

“I don’t think he took many chances, but he did run up and down the court,” Karl said. “He doesn’t seem like he was confident. Knowing Ty, he probably wouldn’t try (overly aggressive play) until he’s in the game. If he wants to play, I’d probably give him a 15-20 minute window.”

The point guard is Denver’s leader in points and assists per game, but has been sidelined with this injury, giving way to Andre Miller and Evan Fournier.

Asked if the practice was encouragement, Lawson said:

“A little bit, it doesn’t feel half as bad as it did in San Antonio when I played my last game. It’s getting better, but it’s a work-in-progress.”

For the first time since finding out he has a complete tear of the plantar fascia in his right heel, today Nuggets guard Ty Lawson trotted around the basketball court, going through some light drills in hopes of getting back in the lineup before the regular season ends.

Afterward, Lawson said the heel, “Felt alright. Started getting sore towards the end, but it’s getting a little bit better.”

He anticipates returning before the end of the regular season, but would not put a timetable on it.

“I’m going to keep doing this for the next couple of days and try and figure out what I’m going to do,” said Lawson, the Nuggets’ leading scorer at 16.7 points per game. “(I want to play in) at least two, three games so I can get a feel for the game back, get some game-time repetitions in.”

On Thursday night after the Denver-Dallas game, a source close to the situation had told me that Danilo Gallinari heard a pop in his left knee, and that Gallo thinks it’s an ACL tear. Thus, Gallo’s season would be over.

This is terrible news for Gallo, one of the good guys, and for the Nuggets, third in the Western Conference.

Gallo is second on the team with 16.3 points per game, third with 5.2 rebounds. And he shoots 82 percent from the line, one of the few dependable players shooting foul shots.

Ty Lawson, the Nuggets’ point guard, tops on the team in points and assists, is sidelined with a complete tear of the plantar fascia in his right heel. Nuggets coach George Karl suggested Monday that his floor general could be pain-free in “a couple weeks.”

Asked about the injury, Karl said: “I’m optimistic that this injury was kind of a blessing – I have a feel that he had somewhat of a tear, that’s untreatable. You can rest it, rest it, and that doesn’t work. But popping it creates a situation where once the soreness goes away and it stretches it, you probably should be pain-free and it could come in a couple weeks.

“That’s our job — his job and our job — to get him feeling 100 percent and having confidence playing. I think it’s a situation to where it’s going to work it’s way out.”

This much everyone in the Nuggets organization knows is true about playing lately without Ty Lawson: “We kind of lost our rhythm without him,” guard Andre Miller said. “We’re trying to figure out how to keep that rhythm going.”

Nuggets coach George Karl has another name for it: Edge.

During his team’s 15-game winning streak, his players played with it. Now, with two straight losses – one without Lawson and the other with a hobbled Lawson – Karl’s ‘concern meter’ is starting to rise as he hopes his team doesn’t lose that edge at this, the most important time of the season with the playoffs in plain sight.

“My biggest thing is players this time of year think they have to rest,” Karl said. “I have no problem resting, but you can’t give up your edge. We have an edge right now; I don’t know what it is or what it’s made of but we were playing at good level. And I think not practicing kills that; you give the edge back. Injuries take the edge.”

Denver has a tough game tonight at Portland, but the Nuggets should have starting small forward Danilo Gallinari. At the shootaround today, coach George Karl told Denver Post freelance writer Scott Sepich that he “think he’ll play,” but that he “thought he’d play last game and it didn’t happen,” so he’s still a game-time decision.

Gallo has a left thigh bruise that kept him out of Denver’s thrilling win against the Lakers on Monday. The ITlaian averages 16.9 points per game and 5.4 rebounds.

“They’re better, they’re definitely playing at a high level,” Karl said at today’s shootaround, as the Nuggets prepared for the fascinating Lakers (7 p.m. tip). “Their intensity is better, the chemistry, their ability to seem like their together. They’re trying to pressure more defensively, and they’re trying to get offense from creating defensive mistakes.

“They’re scary. I’ll sign that contract. I don’t want to play them in the first round.”

The Lakers, of course, have a losing record, as I dissected in today’s Denver Post. But the team has won 11 of its past 15 games, including a win Sunday at Dallas.

The Nuggets, down 116-114, raced the ball down court and Miller heaved up a 3-pointer that missed with 4.9 seconds left, sealing the team’s loss. But while others were steaming at the quick shot, especially in the wake of a career performance by Ty Lawson, Nuggets coach George Karl was smiling on the inside.

“The last shot on Andre, I think Andre wanted to win the game,” Karl said. “I know you can question that shot, but in a sense I kind of liked it. I like to have a guy on my team that has the guts to take that shot.”

CLEVELAND – If Nuggets coach George Karl is to be believed – more on that in a minute – his organization is in a precarious place as the trade deadline speeds towards the NBA, arriving on Feb. 21.

The Nuggets are in fourth place in the Western Conference, and rising. Their inexperienced players – most notably Kenneth Faried – are improving at a steady rate. There aren’t many expiring contracts to take advantage of, though Timofey Mozgov and Corey Brewer both fit the bill there. Brewer has expressed his desire to stay while Mozgov expressed his desire to play anywhere.

And while Mozgov has been one of the most inquired-about Nuggets, there remains huge question marks as to whether the team will deal anyone at all. Karl emphasized that point after today’s shootaround at Quicken Loans Arena.

If there’s an NBA player who doesn’t want more minutes, then perhaps that player has a problem with being too content. Andre Miller, like many others, indeed would like to play more, and said as much recently.

But his agent explained Friday that Miller is committed to the Nuggets — the team Miller signed with this past summer during free agency — and Nuggets executive Masai Ujiri said, “Andre is not going anywhere. We want to win.”

Miller helps Denver win. He is a key cog off the bench. The point guard spearheads the second unit, he often plays down the stretch and was even called the team’s MVP by coach George Karl (prior to Danilo Gallinari’s recent surge).

Miller did make some comments to Paul Klee about his role, saying, “I definitely would like to contribute more.”

The Pacers are in Denver and that means a whole lotta George. Paul George and George Hill are each having stellar seasons for the sturdy squad, with the 6-8 Paul George making the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

“You see a young kid just growing up and blowing up a little bit,” Nuggets coach George Karl said of his namesake, who averages 17.4 points and 7.7 rebounds. “He’s very difficult with his length, a little bit like Kevin Durant, because he’s being covered by someone 3-4 inches smaller and has the knack of being able to release and shoot over the top.

George Karl yaps at a referee during the Nuggets-Thunder game Sunday. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

HOUSTON — In the past couple days — at practice Tuesday in Denver and at shootaround Wednesday here — Karl has said some fascinating stuff about his Denver Nuggets.

The team enters Wednesday’s game with a 25-18 record, 2 ½ games out of the fourth seed in the Western Conference (Denver is sixth). After a slew of road games, this road game in January is Denver’s third and last of the month. Here are some Karl quotes:

** “We’ve been trying to take that next step to the next tier of the top 6-7 teams in basketball. Some people think we’re close, other people don’t think we’re close.”

Wilson Chandler goes horizontal in the Nuggets’ victory over the Thunder in Denver. (Getty Images)

How about “Ill Wil?” Nuggets guard Wilson Chandler has now made four appearances since returning from his hip surgery recovery, and the 6-8 forward has made an impact in his 19 minutes per game in this stretch.

He hit a huge 3 in overtime in the win against Portland. And he hit two clutch free throws, hardly a Denver forte’, in last Sunday’s win against the Thunder (Denver plays at Houston on Wednesday).

After Denver’s practice on Saturday, new Nugget Andre Iguodala was asked about his transition process, halfway into the season.

“I’m probably behind the curve,” the shooting guard said. “It’s been a roller-coaster as far as comfort level, the ups and downs of the NBA season, but that happens in transition. The main thing is to stay positive, continue to do the little things well and hopefully once out of slumps faster instead of letting them linger on.”

Iguodala averages 13.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists for Denver (24-18), but he’s coming off three pretty bad games, including a stinker on Friday, in which he went 0-for-4 from the field and 2-for-6 from the foul line. The last time Dre didn’t make a field goal in a game was Jan. 11, 2011, when he was 0-for-7, and the time before that was in 2006.

In the previous game he was 4-for-10, missing all three 3 attempts, in the lopsided loss at OKC (and he had just one rebound), and in the win against Portland, Dre was 4-for-116 and 0-for-3 from the line.

“I think he’s putting too much pressure on himself, he’s thinking too much,” Nuggets coach George Karl said Saturday. “For me, it’s just trying to get him some easy baskets, simplify, get some confidence in his game and he’ll be fine. He’s still a productive player, his plus-minus has been really good lately, we just need to get him more confidently engaged in the game.”

NBA point guards love Portland point guard Damian Lillard. And he’s only less than three months into his NBA career. It’s the ultimate respect for a rookie, who is making a legitimate push to be included on the Western Conference All-Star team and, right now, is by far the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year honors.

“He’s as a solid as they can be, coming in (from college),” Nuggets guard Andre Miller said. “A lot of guys come in after one year and sit the bench for a couple of years. But he paid his dues in college, he’s earned the respect of players around him and he’s going out and just playing the way he knows how to play. He did the same thing in college, so there’s not that much transition stuff that he has to deal with.”

Tonight, Lillard’s the guy Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson has to stop. It is one of the most intriguing matchups in today’s Northwest Division showdown between the Nuggets and Blazers.

He sat at his locker about 30 minutes after the Nuggets fifth-straight win – a victory over Golden State — and talked to the media. There were no ice buckets to be seen. Chandler, for the first time in two years, could discuss his play without asterisks. It was a pain-free night.

If a Yahoo! Sports report turns out to be true, basketball is on its way back to the Emerald City. According to the report, the Sacramento Kings owners, the Maloof family, is close to an agreement to sell the team to an ownership group that plans to move the team to Seattle as early as next season.

And that would make Nuggets coach George Karl, an ardent fan of Seattle, very, very happy.

When the SuperSonics were uprooted and moved to Oklahoma City in 2008, Karl, who spent seven years of his career coaching that team, said, “It killed me. It happened so quick.”

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.